Stupid Secret ID
by Rainosa
Summary: Set after the events of D-Stabilized, Valerie asks Danny about halfas, and discovers a whole new world where she can't tell right from wrong, or human from ghost. When a fourth halfa enters the scene, Valerie is forced to make a decision on whether Danny is a ghostly human, a humane ghost, or worse, both.
1. Chapter 1: D-Stabilized

Chapter 1: D-Stabilized

"Dani!" Danny yelled, phasing out of Vlad Masters' mansion. Not seeing his ghost cousin, he called again, "Danielle?"

With still no response, the renowned ghost Danny Phantom flew over to Valerie, a notorious, phantom-hating ghost hunter that Danny had temporarily paired up with, and asked, "Valerie, where's Danielle?"

"BOO!" A young girl wearing a glowing black-and-white hazmat suit and sporting a flurry of white hair instantly appeared in front of Danny, scaring him half to death. Wait. He already was half dead, soooo…..

The girls giggled together at the success of their little prank. Danny laughed, too, and couldn't help but notice the change in Valerie's mood from previously that day. Vlad Masters, local millionaire and mayor of Amity Park, their hometown, had called upon her to bring in a girl ghost known as Dani Phantom (with an "I") that was "out to destroy" him. This particular ghost girl was Danny Phantom's unidentical clone, and had the secret identity of Danielle Fenton, Daniel Fenton's cousin. Valerie successfully tracked down Dani, but couldn't locate the ghost because Danielle was resting in her human form. Her clone status had handed her trouble with maintaining her ghost form, so she was slowly making her way towards her cousin. Danielle became scared by Valerie's ghost hunting equipment and ran into a condemned building. Valerie ran after her in order to protect her from the ghost, and the building began to collapse. Seeing the danger, Danielle went ghost and rescued her. Valerie was shocked that Danielle could be both human ghost, but that didn't stop her from capturing Dani, refusing to free her despite her protests until she mentioned her cousin Danny Phantom. At this, Valerie feigned a celebrity crush and released Dani, if only she would introduce her to him. Dani agreed hastily, and found Danny after an uneventful patrol night of his. As the cousins caught up with each other, Valerie attacked, managing to capture both unsuspecting ghosts. Dani was transported to Vlad, but Valerie trapped Danny in her own lab having a personal grudge against him, and a need for ghost knowledge. When Danny awoke, he was able to convince Valerie that Vlad would destroy Dani, killing both her ghost and human sides. Valerie didn't want to get caught up in murder and freed Danny, and together, they rescued Danielle. However, although Valerie was aware of Dani Phantom's human/ghost status, she didn't know that Danny Phantom was also Danny Fenton, or that Vlad Masters was secretly Vlad Plasmius, evil ghost villain and arch-nemesis to Danny Phantom. After the rescue, Danny confronted Vlad about this and threatened to tell Valerie, to which Vlad in turn threatened to reveal Danny's identity. Danny left to find the girls, which brings us back to the present.

So, yeah, really big change in mood.

Reluctantly, Danny and Dani said their goodbyes, each joking about their time together, and Dani flew off, leaving Danny and Valerie alone. Promptly, Danny stuck his wrists out like he wanted to be cuffed.

"What's that for?" Valerie questioned, forgetting the recent past.

Danny sighed, " A deal's a deal. We rescued Danielle. Now you can have me back."

A guilty look crossed Valerie's expression, "Forget it."

"Really?!" Danny withdrew his hands hopefully.

"Yeah," Valerie drawled reluctantly.

Relieved of being trapped forever in Valerie's basement, Danny started to fly off.

"Wait!" Valerie his foot demandingly, "First, I want some answers."

Danny groaned. He had known this was going to happen, "What do you wanna know?"

"First of all," Valerie began as Danny drifted back down to eye level, " How on Earth is she able to do that? Human _and_ ghost? It's just not possible!"

Danny stepped onto her board, "They're called halfas," he explained, "They're half human, half ghost. They usually start out human, and hang around ghost equipment too much. Pretty soon, there's some sort of accident, and you've got a halfa on your hands. As far as I can tell, there's only three in existence, but hey, I could be wrong!"

"Hmm," Valerie focused on a distant point thoughtfully as she processed this information, "Okay, question two. Why, if I turned Dani in to Vlad Masters, did she end up in Vlad Plasmius' hands?"

"Aw, geez," Danny turned away and rubbed the back of his neck, "You reall know how to put a guy's afterlife on the line, don't you? Can I just not answer this one? I'm kind of not allowed to tell you."

Valerie reached for her ecto-gun, "Answer me, ghost."

Danny sighed and turned back, "Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius are the same person. He's a halfa, too. He wanted to melt Dani down and study her remains in order to learn how to clone me. You see, Danielle was originally a semi-screwed up clone of me, but she was able to escape and make a new life for herself outside of Vlad's control."

Valerie almost stepped off her board in shock, "What are you talking about? Vlad would never do a thing like that! For Pete's sake, he's our mayor! There's no way he's half ghost! You're lying, phantom!"

But Danny heard the slight doubt in her voice, and floated over to the mansion. With great effort, he forced all the walls, floors and rooves blocking the view of the basement to become invisible, revealing the dramatic scene inside. Valerie floated over on her board, curious, and watched as Vlad Masters (who she had _totally_ left in a creepy mansion with a crazy ghost. Whoops) approached Vlad Plasmius. They seemed to... chat for a bit? All of a sudden, Vlad M. merged with Vlad P., and they became one ghost. Head reeling, Valerie kept her eyes glued to the basement, staring as a black ring encircled the ghost's middle and split to reveal the mayor.

"No. Way," Valerie whispered, stunned. The Vlad's were the same? How? In one heavy motion, she dropped to a sitting position on her board. Danny saw she understood, and withdrew his hands from the mansion.

"Told you."


	2. Chapter 2: Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any other characters affiliated with it.**

Chapter 2: Questions

"Told you."

It didn't make any sense. Why would Vlad play her like that? "You mean, I've been doing Vlad's personal dirty work this whole time?" Valerie gasped, trying to recover from her shock

"Pretty much. I would have told you earlier, but, uh, well, it was kind of hard, what with you trying to kill me and stuff," Danny apologized.

Trying to regain her composure, Valerie sat up and took a shaky breath, "I've only got one more question, and you've gotta promise you're going to answer this one straight up and honest."

"Fire away," Danny accepted, throwing his hands up in a "couldn't-care-less" way.

Looking Danny in the eye, Valerie asked, "You said you knew three halfas, right? Well one's Danielle, one's Vlad, so who's the third one?"

"Shoulda seen this one coming," Danny laughed half-heartedly, sinking down to rest on Valerie's board with her, "Oh well. I guess I already told you Vlad's secret identity, so you're bound to find out any way. I suppose I should be the one to tell you."

Valerie became suspicious, "What are you ranting on about, ghost? Who is it?"

Danny hung his head, "Promise you won't freak out?"

Valerie nodded.

Danny put his head between his knees, "It's me."

Blinking, Valerie struggled to comprehend the gravity of his statement, "You're kidding. I've been hating you, chasing you, and trying to destroy you my entire ghost hunting career because you were just another dumb ghost, and all this time, I've actually been trying to kill a human?"

"Yeah. Not that that's stopped all the other ghosts from trying to kill me right from the start. Skulker wants to hang m pelt on his wall because I'm such a rare breed. They can sense my human half, so I'm pretty surprised that in their multiple attempts to make me miserable, they never told anyone. I mean, Vlad's threatened to tell, but I've always threatened him right back," Danny said morbidly, maintaining his fetal position.

"I'm so sorry," Valerie reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, then thought better of it, "So, if you're only half ghost, then who's your human side?"

"Why would you care?" Danny uncurled and glared at her ferociously with his powerful eyes, "You're probably just going to hate me more! Because I lied to you, because I'm abusing my power, whatever! Some other stupid reason to hate me just like everybody else! Do you know how hard it is to have your own parents hate you?!"

Valerie frowned, "Parents?" What kind of sick parents would hate their own son? "What do you mean?"

Danny cringed at his obvious mistake just as doubtful understanding began to fill Valerie's eyes. So much for keeping a secret. Danny sighed and slowly turned towards Valerie, hanging his head in fear of seeing her expression as he … changed. Starting out slowly, so as not to surprise her, and then ending quickly as he decided to get it over with, Danny forced the familiar blue halo of light to surround his waist and part to transform his black-and-white hazmat suit into a pair of faded blue jeans, some red sneakers, and a white T-shirt that featured red hems. His tanned skin brightened to a paler tone, and his stark white hair polarized to a dark black, while his intense, glowing green eyes dulled to a bright blue. Reluctantly, Danny Fenton, son to some of the most dedicated ghost hunters in Amity Park, and half ghost himself, looked up to see Valerie's expression.

She looked like a trainload of guilt, surprise, confusion, relief, understanding, pity, anger, and worst of all; hatred had hit her smack in the face.

"Y-… you, I-… no, it-… it can't be," Valerie stuttered, flawlessly demonstrating the turmoil on her face. Suddenly her features softened into surprise and pity, and Danny relaxed. Of all the emotions that had been present on her face, those were the ones he could deal with. "I'm so sorry," Valerie reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, happy to come in contact with him now that he was human, "Do they- I mean- your parents, do they…"

"Do they know?" Danny asked forcefully, running his hand through his hair, "Jazz does. She's just too nosy to not figure it out. But Mom and Dad… they tell me they love me and then turn around and tell me that they want to tear me apart molecule by molecule. They give me a hug and start aiming their ecto-guns at me the next second. It's… it's been hard," Danny tried to swallow the hurt out of his voice and started to stare at the ground far below.

"I'm guessing your friends Sam and Tucker know, too," Valerie guessed, swinging her legs as they dangled from her board. Danny nodded. " So only three people don't want to kill you. That sounds like it sucks."

"Four," Danny insisted, "Four people don't want to kill me. Don't forget Danielle. I mean, she used to want to kill me, but Vlad's mistakes and my advice were able to talk her down. We're 'cousins' now," Danny made air quotes with his fingers, "And there are still all the ghosts in the Far Frozen that practically worship me. So I'm not completely alone. But right now, I'm really hoping that I can get one more person to like me."

Valerie was clueless to his utterly non-subtle hint, and continued to marvel at her ignorance, "So, if you're only half ghost, why are you doing evil things?"

Confusion plastered itself across Danny's brow, "Evil things?"

"Y'know," Valerie trailed, "Stuff like what you did to my dad."

"You're kidding, right?" Danny laughed in disbelief, "That was an accident! I never meant anything by it!"

"That's just your human side speaking," Valerie stood and folded her arms defiantly, "Ghosts are evil. Your ghost half is probably messing with your head and telling you it's okay to do stuff like that."

"What?!" Danny cried, "Just because some ghosts are bad doesn't mean all of them are! I help people! I'm good!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it, freak," Valerie challenged.


	3. Chapter 3: Beware

**Hey! Sorry about all the chapter mix-ups. I'm just warming up to the site. I'm hoping I can keep this mistake free for a while. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any other characters affiliated with it.**

Chapter 3: Beware

"And then she's all like 'Prove it, freak', and I'm like 'I will!' and then she totally doesn't even believe me!" Danny ranted, catching a cardboard box mid-throw and hurling it back at it's owner.

The Box Ghost dodged easily, "She should believe you."

"I know, right?!" Danny fired his ecto-rays to blast apart several heavy boxes flying towards him, "I'm so obviously good! I mean, look at me fight you right now!" Danny shot a razor of ice at the pathetically obsessed ghost, "I'm totally a hero! Even better, I'm not going to freak out and do crazy ghost stuff like you guys!"

A box flew up to block the deadly ice, "Yeah, what's her problem?" The Box Ghost agreed.

"Totally!" Danny shot more ice and sliced the box to shreds, "She even knows I'm half human! That should be proof enough that I'm not going to do bad things!" He flew around the warehouse, searching for an opening in the ghost's defenses, "She just assumes I'm like Vlad, of all people. What am I supposed to do with that?"

The Box Ghost shrugged.

Using superhuman reflexes, Danny took his chance with a vengeance, diving to grab he Box Ghost by the waist. With the ghost's hands up in a signal of confusion, he couldn't move to block the attack, and was taken down without a hitch. Improvising, Danny mimicked Valerie's energy handcuffs using his own ecto-energy, and the Box Ghost lay helpless.

"I mean, most ghosts _are_ evil! No offense. But I'm clearly very different from you guys," danny unloaded, pulling out the Fenton Thermos, "And now I've got to go face her in school. I am really hoping my secret's not out already. If it is, well, this might just be my last ghost fight for a while."

"Life is horrible, kid," The Box Ghost finished as he got sucked into the thermos, "There's a reason we're _all_ dead."

Danny closed the thermos as the last of the ghost slithered in, and tucked it away. Worse than Valerie, though, was that he'd have to tell Sam and Tucker that he'd given away his identity. Sam would be _so_ mad, and Tucker would probably hack into every camera above the equator, to watch Valerie's every move. Trying to take in the calm moment, Danny flew out of the warehouse and decided to take the scenic route to school.

DP

"You. Did. WHAT?!" Sam and Tucker seethed in unison.

Danny winced, but held fast, "I told Valerie."

"Please tell me she didn't believe you!" Tucker begged, "It's one thing to hear something, but if she believed you or saw you- *GASP* No way, dude. Did she see you?"

Danny rubbed the back of his head, "Heh-heh, um, welllll…"

"Danny!" Sam protested, "Are you crazy?! She could have told half the town by now!"

"But she didn't," Danny defended, "After we saved Danielle last night, she set me free. I trust her."

"She's just being smart, Danny," Tucker intervened, "She doesn't have any proof, and she doesn't want to look like a fool accusing you of being something that no one even knows exists."

Just then, Valerie appeared at the end of the school hallway. With fury unbridled, she stormed over to the trio, looking like steam could pour from her ears at any moment.

"What's the big idea, Phantom?!" she roared, shoving him by the shoulders.

Trained reflexes allowed Danny to cover Valerie's mouth before she could utter another word, "What's your big idea, spouting off my secret identity like that?! You're going to get us both killed!"

Valerie broke out of his grasp, "What are you talking about? No one here wants to kill you, much less kill me."

Danny raised an eyebrow, but Tucker stepped up, "Yeah, well, the next time the Guys in White find out Danny's half ghost through their network of cameras and mikes and try to eliminate all those who do or have ever stood in their way of taking him in for dissection, you just remember how wrong you were as they shoot you to ash."

"What?!" Valerie screeched, then dragged her hands down her face, "Agh, whatever. You're never going to answer me."

"About what, exactly?" Sam questioned accusingly.

"I'm talking about the freakin' words he wrote all over my bedroom while I slept!" Valerie shouted, beginning to attract the attention of the crowd.

"WHAT?!" Danny cried, "That's crazy!"

"SSHHHHHHHhhhhhhh…!" Danny's two friends quieted the group down.

At a softer tone, Danny whispered, "Why on Earth would I do that? I have officially stopped trying to mess up your life! In fact, I never started trying!"

"Yeah? Well I saw it, all over the walls and roof, your filthy blue ectoplasm spelling out a creepy message," Valerie jabbed him in the chest.

"Say what now?" Tucker looked confused.

"Danny's got green ectoplasm, genius," Sam gave Valerie a shove of her own, "Check your facts."

"But it has to be him!" Valerie protested, "I checked! Vlad was at a meeting for the town right then, and Danielle was in the Ghost Zone. He's the only one who could have done it!"

Sneaking suspicion crawled its way up the back of Danny's neck, "Valerie, what were the words?"

"Hah! As if you don't know, ghost vandal," Valerie scoffed.

"What were the words?!" Danny insisted.

Valerie relaxed everything but her hard expression, "Beware the halfas."


	4. Chapter 4: Fourth

**Wow, so, uh here's the fourth chapter. If anybody was wondering how there was blue ectoplasm, allow me to remind you that Vlad's got loads of pink stuff. I haven't got any major questions so far, but I'm only treating myself as lucky. If I don't answer your questions in this chapter, seriously, ask me about it. Unfortunately, Inviso-Al, I can't answer questions that directly reveal the plot, so I apologize for not giving you what you want. But honestly, people, I need something to respond to. Well, enjoy the fourth (chapter? Or something more?)**

**Rainosa**

Chapter 4: Fourth

"One more time."

Valerie groaned, laying spread-eagle across the floor of the Fenton's basement, "How much can it possibly take to memorize three stupid words?"

"C'mon, one more time," Tucker pressed, PDA at the ready.

Valerie sighed, "Beware the halfas."

"That just makes no sense to me!" Sam unfolded her arms and stepped away from the wall, "All the halfas have a good, solid alibi, and there's not a ghost in any universe that thinks of a halfa as a remote threat to them. Who could have done it?"

"Maybe you're overestimating the ghosts. Maybe they really do get scared around Danny," Tucker proposed.

"Pfft! Yeah right!" Valerie sat up, "Everyone knows ghosts don't feel! The best they could do would be to sense that someone was stopping them from obsessing."

"And you have proof of this, how?" Sam countered, leaning threateningly towards the sitting girl, but Tucker grabbed her arm.

"Doesn't matter right now," Tucker pulled her back and returned to his device, "We're just waiting for Danny to come back from the Ghost Zone. I need to record his talks with the other ghosts."

"I still don't understand why I'm trusting this twerp," Valerie scowled, "He's a ghost. I don't trust ghosts. No human should," Valerie stood up to truly face down the others.

Sam coughed, "Excuse me?"

Valerie stood her ground, "You heard me. Why are you hanging around this freak? He's a ghost. Ghosts are evil. Evil is the thing that kills people. Are you looking to get killed?"

"In case you've forgotten," Sam growled, "Danny's half human, too. He's a person. Like you! Why can't you wrap your mind around that? He's got people he cares about, an entire family to protect. Most of them want to kill him, but not _once_ in the_ years_ has he ever,_ ever_ given up trying to stop this town from falling apart. Do you even understand? He's saved your life more times than you can count, and still, all you can do is hate him and shoot at him and call him names until he breaks. Can you even say his real name? Because it's Danny, in case that slipped your mind too."

"I know his name!" Valerie insisted, "Why are you screaming at me like _I'm_ the bad guy?"

"Because you _are_ the bad guy!" Sam roared, "You always have been, and I have no idea why he trusted you enough to tell you about him. You clearly can't handle the secret without trying to kill him with it. He _still_ trusts you, but in my eyes, you will always, _always_, be the bad guy."

"Uh, guys—" Tucker tried to cut in.

"No way am _I_ the bad guy!" Valerie ignored, "I save people from ghosts! I'm good!"

"Danny saves people from ghosts, too!" Sam argued, "That makes him as good as you!"

"Guys, there's something—" Tucker tried again.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Valerie seethed, "Why would someone try and capture their own kind like that?!"

"Ever heard of the police?"

"GUYS!" Tucker boomed.

"WHAT?!" the two turned.

Tucker pointed across the room at the Ghost Portal.

"Hi," Danny gave a timid wave.

Both girls instantly assumed their most embarrassed stance and began to weakly explain the situation, neither making a truly coherent word. Danny waved them down.

"Whatever, I don't need to know _why_ you were fighting," Danny assured, "But I do need to know it's over, because I'm going to need everyone's help on this one."

"What is it, _Danny_?" Tucker asked, putting emphasis on the name to establish who's side he was one, ending the fight. Majority rules.

Danny shook his head, "No, I mean _everyone's_ help. We've got a list of everyone on our side, right?"

Tucker headed over to the computer, "Yeah, of course, but why do we need them?"

"It's better if I just say it all at once," Danny insisted, floating down to put his feet on the ground.

Sam and Tucker nodded, and Valerie marvelled at the way they blindly accepted everything Danny said. It was almost mind control. One command from the halfa and they were off, performing like a decorated soldier. If he told them to jump off a bridge, they would. Valerie's face hardened into resolve. She had to stop them. Break their psyche. They were in trouble, because of their ignorance, and Valerie had to protect them from the danger their friend posed. She just _couldn't _let this _freak _take over innocent people like that.

Valerie took a deep breath and calmed herself. Openly attempting to dissuade them seemed like a not-so-trusty tactic, and probably wouldn't affect any _actual_ mind control. With no clue on how to disrupt ectoplasmic mind waves, Valerie was forced to resort to her last strategy: subtle betrayal.

"No, it's better if you tell us, _your friends_, first," Valerie pressed accusingly.

"Say what?" danny faced her with a shocked look, "Ok, first of all, you are _not_ my friend. Second, you have no clue what I'm about to say. It very well could be something that I have to announce publicly."

Tucker stepped away from the monitor, "Got that list for you, dude."

"Perfect. Sam, I want you to find Dani and – Vlad? Why's Vlad on this list? We'll skip him. You only have to find Dani. Hope that she's still hanging around town after … recent encounters. Tucker, me and you are going into the Ghost Zone with the Spectre Speeder to find Wulf and Frostbite. I'm gonna see if we can't whip up a big Yeti army. Get it? Got it? Good."

"Excuse me!" Valerie huffed, "I'm feeling really ignored over here!"

"Oh, um…" Danny tapped his fingers together nervously, thinking, "Did you wanna run upstairs and grab Jaz?"

"Not that!" Valerie spit out, "Tell us what's going on! I've already asked once, so this is the last time you're gonna hear me say it: What did the other ghosts tell you?"

Danny took a quick inventory of the faces around him. Sam, of course, had a solid frown illustrating her devout loyalty to him, and Valerie's firm defiance was unmistakable, but Tuckers features spelled out a much less steady emotional base. Although he would never admit to it, Tucker was curious, and Danny knew it.

So he gave in.

"It's not much," he began, "Mostly just rumours. A few ghosts swore on their afterlife, though, swore they saw… it."

The need for knowledge sparked in Sam's eyes, "Saw what?"

He gave her a strained look that begged for her support, "It's… it's unbelievable. It's another one… a-another _me_."

"What, like a second clone?" Tucker assumed.

"No," realization widened Valerie's eyes, "You're kidding."

Sam took Danny by the shoulders and shook him, "What do you mean, another you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Valerie breathed.

Danny nodded to confirm her fears, "It's … _they're_ like me."

"A fourth halfa."


	5. Chapter 5: Family

**Hello! Sorry about not posting until today. My internet was down, and I just got it back. Also, sorry about basically fluffing you out here. There was just some thoughts I wanted to express that I didn't think I could fit in anywhere else. So, kiss and make up? Without the kissing? Great.**

**To Inviso-Al: While (again) I can't answer your question directly, I can allow logic to fill you in. There are two male halfas, and two good halfas, while there is only one female half-ghost and one evil half-ghost, so it only makes sense to conclude that this will be an evil girl halfa. That assumption would be entirely correct.**

**Disclaimer: In case you forgot, I still don't own Danny Phantom**

Chapter 5: Family

Dani couldn't shake the feeling that she had no control. It was different from her normal free-as-a-bird lifestyle that demanded to avoid authority at all costs, the embodiment of no control. This sense felt… wrong. Whereas her disestablishmentarianism let her be the only one in control, this forced her to be controlled by others. And if there was anything the Fenton line hated, it was that.

First, there was the dissolving. No one was really controlling that, but Danielle wasn't either, so that was scary. Then Valerie had captured her right after she'd saved her life. For a moment there, Dani thought she had the upper hand, but it turned out to be a ploy on the Red Hunter's part. Danny was dragged into the void of manipulation, and she was turned over to Vlad, where she could do nothing but wait to be either dissected or rescued. It had felt good to face off against Vlad, but then the two older ghost hunters had practically asked her to buzz off with all the tension between them.

And now there were these darn, uncontrollable _feelings_. For _Danny._

Not _those_ kinds of feelings. Danielle could never think of Danny like that. He was just too old for her, and she wouldn't settle down for the life of her. No lovers they'd never be. In fact it was quite the opposite. The more she relied on him, the more he saved her, the more they spent time with each other, that much more she realized, their family ties went beyond "cousins." He was just so protective, so overly responsible, so loving, so concerned with her actions, just so… so… fatherly. That was it. That was how she felt about him. He was her father figure. Her only real parent. And technically, it was truer than cousins, right? Cousins didn't, y'know, create, other cousins. But fathers made daughters. So why not?

Dani sighed and curled up on her tree branch in the park. She knew why not. If she thought of Danny as her dad, then her actions over her entire span of existence would most likely be deemed unacceptable by her conscience. And boy, did she have a conscience. Always messing with her head and making her do crazy things. She got it from her da- from Danny, she got it from Danny. Right. This was hard.

Her darn conscience reprimanded her. Nothing she did was as hard as what Danny did. Fighting those ghosts every day, getting bullied in school, homework (which she still didn't understand), being at the hard end of everyone's hatred, living that awful life of lies, she just couldn't see how he still got up every day. Compared to him, she was living a life of privilege, not really having a secret identity or any pronounced enemies to speak of. Having to sleep in obscure places and steal every once in a while? That was nothing. Heck, that was _fun_. But Danny… he had saved everyone and their dog, and they had no way to repay him, nor did they want to.

And here she was, thinking she was his daughter as she constantly ran away from him like she hated him. Which she definitely didn't. To be honest, who _could _hate him? He was the hero of every story, with his infinite altruism and humor. Dani growled as she thought of all the idiots who wanted to kill him anyways, just because he was a ghost. They couldn't kill him, of course – Danny was known for being almost invincible – but to hate him that much, it was just… _unthinkable._

Take the Red Hunter, for example. She hated all ghosts in general for no apparent reason, thinking them to be soulless creatures whose sole purpose was to cause chaos and terror. The truth was that ghosts were _all_ soul, some being evil and some not. Evil ones were more popular on Earth because they felt the need to pass through the portal and wreak havoc, having been an evil soul when they lived. In all honesty, they were proof that humans were just as bad, if not worse, than ghost. Yet Valerie's hard-headed prejudice and limited knowledge forced her to take up arms against the teen ghost.

"Hey kid! You know you can't sleep up there!" a police officer called up to Dani.

"I wasn't sleeping, I was playing in this tree!" she giggled, playing up her childishness. Darn. She had liked this spot. With the most carefree of leaps, she hopped to the ground and gave her most innocent smile.

The officer relaxed, "Sorry, little missus. How about you head on home to your parents, now? It's starting to get dark out."

"Okay!" Danielle squeaked, beaming with enthusiasm. The officer saluted her and moved on, while Dani subconsciously turned to the side of the park that she knew faced Fenton Works, and returned to her thoughts.

Even if Valerie knew about Danny's other half, it wouldn't automatically okay it for her. She'd think of something dumb, like split personalities or mind control, and blame everything on Danny like she always did. Her thoughts on ghosts were as solid as a brick wall, and Danny's ghost half like a well-placed punch. It may shatter her, or strengthen her against similar attacks. In short, Valerie could never accept Danny's halfa status, or it would kill her.

Danny stopped as she rounded a curb. At the other end of this street lay the house she kept trying to reject. The house that kept pulling her in with its hospitality. The house of her father.

Danny.

She turned around and ran away as fast as she could. She wouldn't allow herself to fall privy to these subconscious desires. She didn't want to have a real family, or a permanent home. She _liked _living off the land, always having that air of danger lingering. She _loved_ running away, hiding from the cops every once in a while. It was _great_, eating out of dumpsters and stealing when she had to. It was… she… no, it wasn't. With reluctance, she slowed her mad dash and spun on her heel to face the warm, welcoming abode. She needed a family, and she knew it. She needed a roof over her head, running water to drink, food on her plate and warmth in her heart. She needed Danny. She needed comfort. She needed to know Vlad wasn't coming to kill her.

The faint buzz of a motorized scooter interrupted her definitions of needs and wants. Blinking away her daze, Dani saw that Sam was approaching as fast as she could from Fenton Works. With a nod, Dani stepped out of the way, but was surprised when Sam shifted her course to come at her again. The buzz grew to a growl, and came to a screeching halt as Sam swerved in.

"Dani! Oh my gosh, you've got to come quick! We've got to organize a battle plan, set up our best defense, organize a meeting with them…" Sam rambled.

"Hey- HEY!" Danielle yelled, getting her attention, "What's going on? Is Vlad doing something crazy again?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Sam waved her down, "It's much worse than that. Danny's called in absolutely everyone for this even Valerie."

"Valerie?! But I though she wanted to kill him!"

"I know right? But Danny trusted her with his identity, and now we've got some sort of truce."

"Say WHAT?!"

"Anyhow, really huge massive problem that we need your help with. You in?"

Dani hung her head and sighed, "Yeah, I'm in."

"Awesome. Race you there!" Sam sped away.

"You're gonna lose, human!" Dani transformed and flew the same way.

DP

Everyone had taken off in a flash when Danny had given the order. Everyone, that is, but Valerie. With a whining groan and complaining steps that no one was around to appreciate, Valerie moped up the stairs to find Jaz reading a psychiatric studies textbook in the living room.

"Hey girl," she said, sounding bored, "Your ghost freak of a brother wants you downstairs for an emergency meeting about another halfa. Seems kind of important."

"WHAT?!" Jaz leaped into the the air and put Valerie in a choke hold, "How do you know his secret? And what are you doing, calling it out in this house, do you want to get us all killed?!"

Valerie shoved her away in a much more violent move, "Geez, why do you all think his stupid secret ID is gonna kill you?!"

Jaz shook her head, "You don't even know."

Valerie rubbed her throat, "Anyways, there's gonna be some kind of gathering downstairs, that you might want to go to because it's really important."

"Wait," Jaz straightened from her fighting stance "Another halfa? Like, a fourth one?"

"YES!" Valerie threw her arms up in the air, "How did you only catch on just now?!"

Jaz put her hands on her hips, "Well, sooooorrrrryy that I had to think of my little brother first!"

Valerie, meanwhile, was pulling at her hair, "Are all you Fenton's so idiotic?"

"Do you always take this long to bring someone downstairs?" came a new voice. Sam stood at the door, but defiantly rising in front of her came the source of the mocking question.

"Because if I were you," Dani challenged, "I would have taken three seconds tops."

Dani and Sam fist-bumped.


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting

**Sorry if this one's late, too. And I also apologize for making Danny sound kind of weird. And for handing you a foot long Jazz speech. Y'know, let's just assume that if you don't like something, I'm sorry about it.**

**Inviso-Al: Dude, I am seriously liking how much you review. Let you be an example to all other readers. Anyways, I'm not planning on letting Valerie down like that, but Danny will probably do something super fatherly and take Dani in. As for the meeting, here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Or a rocketship. Not that it matters.**

Chapter 6:Meeting

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course," Jaz offered, stepping down the stairs after Valerie and the other girls.

"How could you do this to your own family?" Valerie accused.

"Excuse me?!" Jaz froze mid-step.

"You're ghost hunters. All of you. See a ghost, kill a ghost, that's your motto. Or, uh, something like it. So here, you've got a ghost in your own home, and you just allow it to roam free like a wild animal!" Valerie turned and faced Jaz, "Why?"

"Oh," Jaz sighed, "I should have expected this. I guess it wouldn't make any sense to you, considering your relationship with the family you've got. See, with your dad, you have a great thing going. You're always there for him, and he's always there for you. A simple strong, healthy relationship," Jaz sat down on the steps exhaustedly, "I never had that with Mom and Dad. They were always so busy with ghost hunting that they never really spent much time with me. By the time Mom realized what was going on, I was already super independent. By then, they'd had Danny, so they just started to sort of shove their enthusiasm at us in hopes that we'd catch on. Instead, Danny and I kind of latched onto each other, thinking we retained the only sane minds in the house. We actually thought our parents were crazy for thinking ghosts were real! How ironic is that! But yeah. We helped each other out, kept each other from getting into too much trouble. We went past the whole brother-sister thing and were our own parents for each other. We trusted one another with everything, we – we were just - we were so close, and I didn't think that would ever go away. But we both grew up and were suddenly repulsed by each other. I really hated that. I wanted us to be tight like we used to, but it just didn't seem possible. And then he started really drifting from all of us, spending as little time as possible in the house, acting terrified around family inventions, and dropping down in his grades like a stone in water. Mom and dad just saw him as being extra distant, but I knew he was hiding something big. Something that could _really_ end any family relationship that still existed. And boy, could he hide it. It took me months to catch him going ghost, and even longer to tell him I knew. But after that… after that, everything just came flooding back. The trust, the love, the protectiveness, all of it. It was what we had before multiplied by ten. It's just… he's my brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him. It's like you and your dad. Strong like that. Both trying to protect the other from every danger. And Mom and Dad, they…" Jaz trailed off, "They _are_ a danger. They _hate_ ghosts. If they found out their son _is_ one, there's a big chance they'd try to kill him first and ask questions later. Or it could just shatter them at the thought they'd been trying to hunt their boy. We really don't know. But what I know for a fact is that Danny, half-ghost or not, is part of my family, and I will continue to love him and trust him and give him everything I've got until the day I die," she glanced up to give Valerie a pleading look, "Do you understand?"

Whoah. That was quite the speech. Valerie shook her head and tried to answer the question stuck on at the end. Did she get what Jaz was trying to say?

"Of course," Valerie assured, offering a hand up. Jaz took it, and they continued into the basement.

But Valerie knew in her heart that it wasn't true. That whole façade about not caring whether he was a ghost or not didn't fool her. Phantom was obviously tricking all those around him into thinking he was just the same Danny as before, but she knew better. He was a ghost. Ghosts were evil.

And she would never forget that.

"A big _Yeti_ army, huh?"

"Well hey! I didn't know we were going to run into practically everybody on this trip!" Danny spread his arms wide to indicate the massive crowd. The troop of ghosts really didn't take up that much space, but in the metal-coated lab, with beings floating at varying heights, they certainly appeared to make up an army of something that definitely wasn't ghost Yetis.

Valerie sniffed, "Sure you didn't"

Danny dropped his arms, "Oh, so now you're pretending I'm psychic, too? Ok, whatever. I've just got to get everybody to pay attention. HEY! CUJO! Get away from that! It'll ki- um, destroy you!"

Valerie rolled her eyes and took another mental head count. Dani was sitting near a large ghost Danny had called Frostbite, focussing all her energy on trying to create ghostly ice, while Tucker spoke some kind of foreign language to a massive wolf-like ghost just behind her. In the corner, a medieval ghost was sharing beauty secrets with Jaz, and Sam desperately tried to aid Danny in pulling the ghost dog Cujo off of the lab equipment. Geez. Talk about chaos.

Everyone settled down after Danny fired an ecto-blast at the roof, and with satisfaction, the halfa rose above the ground, letting his voice carry as he made his announcement.

"OK! So, um, I tried to be kind of vague when I called you guys here, but the main gist of it is that I've got a really big problem, and I need you as a search party and a fighting force," Danny started.

"Is somebody missing?" the princess ghost asked, shocked.

"Why yes, I'd say someone _is_ missing," Plasmius complained, entering through the Ghost Portal, "Me! Why was I not invited to this meeting, Daniel?"

"Augh, Vlaaad!" Danny dragged his hands down his face, trying to wipe away the tension, "You weren't invited because you're a crazed up fruit loop that wants me to join the dark side."

"Fruit loop! How da-,"

"Shut it, _Vlad._ You'll want to hear this," Valerie growled.

Vlad gasped, "Does she – I mean, do you…"

Valerie snorted, "Yeah, I know."

Vlad's chest swelled, and he crossed his arms triumphantly, "Well, Miss Gray, I have something to tell you about a certain Danny Phantom."

Valerie pulled out an ecto-gun and began polishing it menacingly, "You're kidding me, right? I know about him, too. He told me about both of you."

"Oh yeah!" Danny said both excitedly and thoughtfully, "I forgot to gloat about that! Mmm. Feels good to pull the rug out from under you. Yeah. Almost makes me wish this kind of thing happened more often. Almost"

Vlad simply stuttered as he floated above the crowd, sinking as he gasped, "I just - I - I don't understand - how could you…?"

Valerie rolled her eyes, her pupils beginning to get a little too familiar with her top eyelid, "On with the announcement."

"Yeah. Right. Sorry. I'm really distracted today. Okay! So, the main thing is, well," Danny took a deep breath to prepare for the news, "I think, I mean, I'm almost positively sure, that there just may be another evil halfa."

"Another HALFA?!" all the ghosts cried in shock.

Valerie furrowed her eyebrows, "Evil?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders, "Surprise?"


	7. Chapter 7: Understanding

**Hey there! Sorry for being so late again. Responsibility really goes to my being both busy and lazy (I was watching the entire first season of Heroes and starting another fanfic) Warning: I will not be able to update again until the 22****nd**** due to a family camping trip. Sorry again! If you want to kill me, I apologize, you can't reach me, but you can look forward to some more emotional plot. Searching for action? Be prepared for disappointment, because it's the feels before the fight right now.**

**Phantom Ice: I know, right? She's just too hardcore and stubborn to cry over something like this. And the dating thing? I totally heard you and put it in here. I hope you enjoy it1**

**fglla2211: Thanks! Detail is very important to me!**

**Inviso-Al: What is with you and questions I can't answer? But yeah, as I said before, it's going to be all emotiony for a while. Sorry. (Wow, I'm apologizing a lot in this A/N0**

**Here you go!**

Chapter 7: Understanding

"What's your problem?"

"Say what now?" Valerie pardoned, "I don't have a problem."

Danny gave her a look, "Says the girl who refuses to even fly beside me."

Valerie looked away guiltily, trying to focus harder on the neighborhood below her, "I don't fly beside ghosts."

"Right. But I'm not really a normal ghost," Danny pointed out, flying in closer and leveling out.

She rose above him and flew faster on her board, "But you're still made of ectoplasm."

Danny sighed, "That's what this is about, isn't it? You're having trouble accepting that I'm only half ghost. You don't understand."

"Understand what, Phantom?!" Valerie huffed, "That you're not who everyone thinks you are? That you're fooling everyone into thinking you're just normal Danny? That you're actually a no-good, low-down, sneaking, lying ghost?!"

"No," he calmly answered, "That I'm human. I can feel. I can care for someone. I… I can get angry. I can… I… I can be… hurt. Just like you. I'm human, just with ghost powers on the side. I can still… love. No other ghost can do what I can do. That's why they do stuff. They're jealous of living beings, because we can still care and love and be happy, and they can't. They can't because they've been torn from their loved ones, and mistreated to the point of insanity. They can't anymore, and it kills them. But they can't die again, so they just go crazy," Danny paused for a second, staring at the ground, "There's some kind of saying that's like, 'Tell a man he's a monster enough times, and he'll be forced to believe you.' It's kind of like that. People said ghosts were creepy monsters, and we believed them. So we became monsters. And no one has told us otherwise for a long while."

Danny wiped a tear from his eye and sniffed as Valerie processed this. It sounded so right that she wanted to believe it, but she wasn't sure. It could just be more ghost trickery, but it could be honesty. How on Earth could she tell the difference?

Finally, she went with the safe answer, "You guys always make me sound like I'm the villain."

"Sorry," Danny apologized, "Sam and Tucker are always saying stuff like that, but I'm trying to be equal. I don't see you as an enemy, even though we fight and my friends disagree."

"Yeah," Valerie consented, "How about that."

An awkward silence filled the open air, and Danny was forced to break it.

"So, back to the searching then, huh?" he tried to sound happy.

Valerie smirked, "When did we stop?"

"Right," Danny nodded, returning his gaze to Amity Park below, "We never stopped."

The two flew across the town, hoping for just one glimpse of that fourth halfa before midnight. But there was nothing. Not a hint of blue ectoplasm anywhere. You'd think that with an evil hybrid running around, the place would look a little more destroyed.

A thought came to Valerie, "So, is there a reason Vlad celebrated when he heard about this new guy being evil?"

Danny gave a light laugh, "Oh, man, you have no idea."

"What? Is there a story behind it?" Valerie inquired curiously.

"Aw man, YES!" Danny exclaimed, "Ever since he found out I was half ghost, he's been going on and on about how 'Jack stole Maddie from him', and he could never have a son. But that was okay, because he figured I'd just warm right up to him and join him because he was the only other halfa. And, y'know, forsaking my family along with all things good was part of the deal, too. So I was all like, 'Pfft! Yeah right! I'm gonna listen to a crazed-up fruitloop who lives alone in the woods!' But he just kept on trying to make me his adopted son, even when I wanted to kill him every time I saw him. And then he tried to clone me! Man, that was messy. He had all these, like, failed clones that I had to fight, but Danielle was the best of them, and she helped me stop him. So yeah. He's probably thinking that since this halfa's evil, he can turn them to his side and make them his adopted child."

"Ew. Gross," Valerie wrinkled up her nose, "He'd be better off if he sticks with his cat."

"His CAT?!" Danny burst out laughing, "Oh my gosh! Did he _actually _do that? Like, legit get a cat? Oh man! That is too good!"

Valerie laughed with him, and for a few moments, she could remember why she'd fallen in love with this guy. Back when they were dating, she had known him as a funny kid who was always selfless and responsible, and looking out for others had been his top priority. He had tried to be honest, most of the time, and he had taken it nobly when she broke it off to protect him from… Oh gosh. From himself. She had stopped dating him so Danny Phantom wouldn't attack him, but that was the least of his concerns. She had-… She had just-… Geez, what was wrong with her? She'd been trying to protect him from himself! That was more ironic than drawing trees on paper! How could she have been so stupid! To reject him like that, for no reason, that… that must have been hard on him. She glanced over at him, and while he looked happy, she could still see the sadness she was sure she'd left him with. Oh, the poor guy. She couldn't help but feel guilty at what she'd done to him.

A vile taste rose in her mouth suddenly. Wait a second. Where were these feelings coming from? Certainly they were not her own. While Valerie was many things, she was not a soft, mopey, girly-girl that went around forgiving everyone that seemed nice. She was a ghosthunter, and a good one at that. This ghost flying just above her was clearly putting these thoughts in her head, using the enigmatic mind control he'd worked on his friends and family. That ectoplasmic scum! How dare he manipulate her mind! Why, she oughta pull out her ectogun right now and shoot him out of the sky1

With well-trained reflexes, her hand moved aggressively to her hip, where her holster sat waiting. Danny didn't see the action, and continued to fly blissfully on, a slight, relieved smile on his face as he searched the rows of houses. Valerie hesitated, her fingers brushing against the handle of her weapon for just a second.

Darn it! Why did he have to be so human!

She dropped her hand and slowed to a stop in mid-air. Within moments, Danny turned around to join her.

"Hey," she breathed, "I'm gonna head home for the night. You can keep going without me."

"Nah, I should probably turn in, too. I haven't seen any ghosts, so I'm gonna get some sleep while I can," Danny nodded. Then a smile split his face, "Can I fly you home?"

"Sure," Valerie sighed, and decided there was no harm in trusting him. For now.


	8. Chapter 8: Talks

**Heyoh! I'm back! Did you miss me and my story?**

**Oh, hey, did anyone notice my little Percy Jackson reference last chapter? No? That's okay if you didn't. If you did, Woohoo! PJO to the max! Have fun with this new chapter, guys!**

**Nightshade6265: Thank You! Whenever I read that part to other people they just kind of stare at me stone-faced and I forget that they ever had a sense of humor. Sorry about kind of skipping out on laughs in this chapter.**

**Inviso-Al: No, I like your annoying reviews, don't stop. Once in a while, I actually will answer your questions, like right now. Eventually, Val will trust Danny, but it will be for reasons that you can't even begin to imagine. Well, maybe you could. I don't know what you imagine.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom, it would have eighty seasons already.**

Chapter 8: Talks

In a dark back alley, hiding behind an overflowing Dumpster and chuckling quietly to herself, sat a ghost, who was in the wrong in every right. With careful eyes, she watched as the two ghosthunters flew overhead, and she smiled. They never even saw her. Not even that pesky Danny Phantom. She focused on him and watched as he chatted amiably with the Red Hunter while they searched for that new halfa. Again, she laughed lightly. That ghost boy didn't realize that his prey was below him, out of his sight. What fools humans were. She smirked at her mistake. Well, not all humans.

DP

Dani did her best to remain calm and fly peacefully beside Jazz, but internally, she was just going nuts.

Everything had been going great for her, (except for her conflicting emotions) until Vlad had flown in. With his smirking, fanged smile and glowing, confident aura, she had felt her heart rate pick up and her breathing gain speed. She had started to panic, started to remember the horrors he'd done to her, started to back away in fear. Sam had noticed her freaking out, and had bent down and gently embraced her, softly, like a mother would. It had been peaceful, and she had loved it. It had even dulled the shock of Danny allowing Vlad to help. Which didn't make sense. She personally thought that giving him this chance was the worst idea in the history of complete mistakes. Letting Vlad get some of the first dibs on looking for a possible new apprentice was practically suicide. It was no wonder Vlad was always three steps ahead of him.

Despite her best efforts to mask her thoughts, Jazz noticed Dani's brow wrinkle and the corners of her mouth turn down through the window of her car. She sighed and began to roll down the window. She didn't have to be a genius in psychology to know something was wrong with her brother's clone.

"What's up?" Jazz asked, making it perfectly clear that lying was useless.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Dani looked down questioningly, the confused and sad expression not quite leaving her face.

Jazz gave her a no-nonsense glare, "Your body language exudes misery, you just faced your arch-nemesis twice in one week, and you haven't said a word since we left the house."

Dani hung her head, "Sorry. It's just… it's Vlad."

Jazz returned her gaze to the road and continued listening, "That's what I thought. Care to elaborate?"

Dani shrugged her shoulders and started looking around at her surroundings, "I dunno. I guess I'm just having trouble with letting Vlad help us. I just… I can't believe Danny would let Vlad hurt him, however indirectly. It's the most stupid, irresponsible, clueless decision I've ever seen him make."

"Heh, trust me, I know what that's like," Jazz concurred.

"But you don't, not really," Dani folded her arms comfortingly, "You've always seen him as your brother. With me, it's… different."

"You see him as you father," Jazz confirmed.

"How did you..?" Dani stuttered, slowing down in her shock.

Jazz grinned, "You're aware that I've been studying psychology since I was ten, right?"

"Yeah, sorry," Dani focused and regained her speed.

Jazz shrugged, "It's not hard to think of him like that. Most of the time, he's this super protective, caring, responsible bundle of parentage. The rest… well, he's got to have a chance to be a teenager, right? Be clutzy, do dumb things… he just kind of screws up bad a lot. We try to help him all the time, but he's just that tiny bit stubborn, and he'll usually ignore us. But he's definitely not as stubborn as that Valerie girl."

"Tell me about it," Dani nodded, glad they were moving into a safer topic, "When did Danny decide it was a good idea to tell _that_ rock of ignorance?"

Jazz tapped her skull and laughed, "Stupid, irresponsible decisions, remember?"

The two girls laughed and giggled as they sped on in search of the other halfa. As their smiles faded with the light mood, Jazz began to worry for Dani's wellbeing. Was there a reason she felt a need for a father? Should she ask about it? No, Dani seemed to act like Danny when questions just made things worse. Did she have a place to stay for the night? Food to eat? Water to drink? Jazz set her jaw as she realized the girl didn't, but she knew someone who did.

"Dani?" Jazz questioned, "Do you want to stay at our place tonight? I mean, I know a couple of ghosthunters live across the hall, but I'm sure Danny wouldn't mind if you crashed in his room. They haven't gone in there for years."

Dani's heart leapt at the chance to be with her da- Danny, but her head told her to back off and stop thinking like that. Deep down, however, her head loved Danny, too, and her internal struggle ended quickly.

"Yeah. I'd like that," she answered. She slowed to a stop as they neared the boundary of their search perimeters, "I guess we should head in now, then."

"Sounds good to me," Jazz spun in a perfectly legal U-turn and drove towards Fenton Works.

This could work.

DP

As Danny approached his house, he noticed that the lights in his room were on. Did he accidentally leave them on? No, someone was in his room. He would have to go through the front door.

He dove down, and a quick flash later, he walked into his entryway as Danny Fenton. No one reprimanded him for coming in so late, no one scolded him for not calling, no one even noticed he had come. Oh well. That was a good thing. Danny started to head upstairs as silently as he could, but before even one foot had reached the steps, his magnified peripheral vision caught a shock of red hair and the hem of a black shirt in the living room. Jazz. He should probably check in with her before going to bed.

With a sigh, he changed course and flopped onto the couch with the carefree manner that only teenagers could master. Jazz gave him a look, but he just smiled guiltily, and she silently forgave him for taking so long with the search by rolling her eyes.

"So, who came before me?" Danny asked lazily, obviously tired.

Jazz shrugged and laced her fingers behind her head, "Me and Dani came back first, and she was feeling really tired, so I let her stay in you room tonight. After us, everyone else checked in and went home except for you and Val."

"Even Vlad?" Danny remarked.

"Even Vlad," Jazz confirmed.

"And?" Danny hoped, crossing his fingers.

Jazz shook her head, "Nada. Well, that's not entirely true. Plasmius swore he saw something suspicious just outside of town, but I decided that was him trying to get rid of you for a while, so I ignored that."

Danny huffed and rested his head against the couch, "Figures."

Jazz tried to comfort him, "Well, hey, it's just the first night. We'll probably just have to wait until something big happens so we can really track down this guy."

"Yeah, whatever," Danny messed up his hair, trying to cool his head off, "I'm going to sleep while I can. You probably should, too."

"'Kay," Jazz agreed, and they both stood up, "Try not to die tonight."

Danny laughed lightly. Normally, people didn't feel threatened in their own bed. Not him. That was where he was usually attacked. With a gentle "goodnight", he made his way upstairs to his room where the light was still on. Curious, he opened the door silently and saw Danielle asleep on an air mattress beside his bed. Aw, the poor darling. A flick of his wrist later, the lights were out, and he used the darkness to get into his pajamas unseen. Danny slipped under the covers of his bed and started to escape into his dreams, almost making it into unconsciousness uninterrupted.

Suddenly, Danielle screamed and sat up beside him. He sprang out of his covers and went to her, wrapping her arms protectively around her head.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Danny cooed as she dissolved into sobs.

"I-I h-had a d-d-d-dream ab-bout Vlad-d, and I-I-I just… Why does it have to be so dark!" Dani stuttered, and then burst into another wave of tears.

"Hey, don't worry, it's okay!" Danny reassured, firing the tiniest of ecto-rays to flip the light switch.

"Dad, I was so scared," she proclaimed, "I couldn't fly away from him, and the dark was getting closer and closer, and there was nothing I could do! I felt so useless!"

"What are you talking about? You're anything but useless. I don't know what I'd do without you!" Danny promised, pressing his lips to her forehead, "C'mon. You can sleep with me tonight."

Her body convulsing with tear-filled shudders, Dani managed to huddle under the sheets on the mattress, and Danny comfortingly draped an arm over her as he joined her. Before long, she was asleep again, and she shifted her head subconsciously so it rested on Danny's bicep instead of the pillow. A small, relieved smile danced on her lips as her more pleasant dreams returned, and Danny couldn't help but grin himself. He lay his head down as thoughts started swimming in his head. He thought about how good it felt to hug Danielle in this protective way. He thought about how much Vlad needed to get creamed for what he did to her. He thought about how hard it really was to be a halfa. But one thought stayed firmly in the front of his consciousness, holding it's importance even as sleep took him.

Dad?


	9. Chapter 9: Ruins

**Good afternoon, followers! Apologies if you think I'm late again, but I see myself as being fairly on time. I would just like to point out to you that I have started another fanfiction, and that you should totally go check it out. It's a Generator Rex/ Young Justice crossover called "The Team Plus An EVO", and I'm pretty sure it's the only one in its category that's not a oneshot (granted, right now, it looks like a one shot, but it will be updated every, oh, I don't know, let's say two weeks). I highly recommend you go visit it. Also note that updates may slow down as school starts (see "absolutely, definitely will) so try not to complain as that happens. To my reviewers:**

**Nightshade6265: Totally. Vlad's cat is like, one of the best jokes to share with other people from Danny Phantom. I guess that just can't appreciate true, humourous art when they see it. (cough, sisters, cough)**

**Inviso-Al: What happens next is this chapter! Don't kill me for leaving you in suspense like this, but I wanted to give you a short chapter, especially after my long one last week. Revealing the fourth halfa, huh? I want that to be the climax, so it may be awhile, but I'm hoping I can tell you soon. I have it all planned out for that section.**

**Now followers, don't die of suspense after this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own Danny Phantom! *nose grows* Darn…darn Butch Hartman 'n' 'is darn ownership 'n' his darn…**

Chapter 9: Ruins

Dani woke up that morning feeling more rested than she had in months. Why was that? Hadn't she gone to sleep late last night? And hadn't she had nightmares?

She sat up to take in her surroundings, which she assumed were something like a really wide tree branch or the dumpster outside a mattress shop. Instead, she found herself in a blue room, the walls covered in NASA and Dumpty Humpty posters and the ground littered with dirty boy clothes. Oh gosh. She knew this room. To confirm her hunch, she glanced down at the bed she laid on, and gasped as she recognized it. Danny. This was Danny's bed and Danny's room. She was in Danny's bedroom. Why the heck was she there?

Soon, last night's encounters came flooding back to her. The news, the searching, the welcome, the nightmares and his comforting, everything. Oh, good, this wasn't what she thought. Phew. But, where was Danny? Shouldn't he be here?

She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 9:00. Danny was probably at school by now. Her firs instinct was to leap up and meet him in his classes, but her stubborn conscience told her that running to him like that was stupid. Besides, loud mechanical noises were emanating from the floors below her, indicating that his ghosthunter parents were still around. Who knew what kind of ghost monitoring equipment protected this house? Going ghost probably wasn't the best idea, but neither was going human through the front door. What would she say to his folks? Oh hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, I'm this random girl that slept in Danny's room last night, but don't worry, we don't like each other, I'm just his not-so-perfect clone that acts like his daughter. And by the way, we both have ghost powers 'cause we're half ghost! So see ya, I'm gonna go hang out with Danny at school for no particular reason! She rolled her eyes. Not gonna happen. Not anytime soon.

So how was she going to get out? She knew she had to. She didn't live here, like Danny did, and couldn't just hang out whenever she wanted to. She had to get back out on the street,, where it was anyone's game. With a glance, she located her clothes on the ground beside an air mattress, and hopped out of bed to change from her pajamas: a pair of grey adult sweats cut down to her size with an ecto-ray and a baggy red tank top she'd found at the bottom of an empty "Kittens for free" basket. She had donned her blue hoodie and red shorts when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Danny? Is that you?" came Maddie Fenton's voice from the stairway, "What are you doing out of school?"

Dani froze. She had to leave _right now_. Making a split-second decision, she snatched her sneakers and toque and called upon her cold, ghost core located in her chest, using the energy to turn her intangible, which was excessively hard in her human form. Without a second thought, she phased through the wall and came to a float outside the Fenton house, where, luckily, no one was around to see her.

In Danny's room, Maddie swung the door open to reveal… nothing. Only a rumpled bed and an empty air mattress sat in her view. Air mattress? Did Danny have a friend over without her knowing? Ah well. It was either Sam or Tucker, and she was fine with both. With a sigh, she wrapped her arms around the temporary bed and hauled it downstairs, where she would have more room to deflate it.

Outside, Dani floated to the sidewalk and started walking towards Casper High, not feeling safe enough to go ghost so near Fenton Works. How in the Zone did Danny manage to get away when a ghost came by? Was there some kind of backup plan in effect? Whatever. She reached the end of the street and ducked into a back alley for a quick change before flying out in ghost form towards the high school. There we go. That was much easier.

Dani began using her best logical skills to try and remember what class Danny had at this time. Was it science? No wait, it must have been English, because he always said he was late for his first class because of ghosts, and she knew for a fact that he struggled the most in English. While it was highly flawed logic, it was the best she could come up with at the time. Who was the English teacher again? Mr. Spearer? Mr. Lancer? Yes, that was it. Mr. Lancer. She knew where his class was.

She rounded the last corner, all prepared to find Mr. Lancer's window right away, when she caught sight of the school. Oh. Oh no. It couldn't be. There was no more need to find Danny's class, she could see him in the schoolyard with Valerie, staring at the… at the… at the what? The school?

What happened here?

DP

Valerie didn't know much, but she knew she was dreaming. It was an interesting dream, too, filled with ghosthunting and plans. There was a new ghost, but for some reason, she was friends with it. She thought maybe it was because they were both angry at Phantom, but she couldn't be sure. Together, they formed a plan, but in her dream-like state, she didn't catch any real details. She just knew they had a plan, and that it would work.

Something tugged at her mind, and she lazily gave it some focus. Valerie vaguely remembered that she hadn't gone to sleep when she'd wanted to. That caused her a touch of alarm. Had she been knocked unconscious? Drugged? Her dreams became interesting again, and she relaxed. She had probably just stayed up really late doing some hunting, or maybe she'd stopped working early and felt a bit guilty. It was nothing to worry about.

Valerie absorbed herself in the dream again, where she and the ghost were carrying out their plan. They had discovered Phantom's location, and were blowing it to kingdom come in search of the ghost-child. Having no luck so far, they were preparing a final, solid attack to utterly demolish the building when green waves assaulted them, accompanied by a spooky moaning sound. Valerie recognized this as Phantom's signature attack, the Ghostly Wail, but it didn't help her in the slightest as it knocked her out of the air.

"No! You can't defeat me! I am Captrix!" screamed the ghost as it fell. As Valerie followed her, she thought she heard a voice calling her name. Her body hit the ground, but it seemed trivial in the dream. That voice, however, that was important. Who was it? She knew she recognized it.

"Valerie!" it called, as though searching for her. In her dream, someone grabbed her, and she heard the voice again.

"Val! Wake up! C'mon, I need your help! Val!" it echoed.

Wake up? What? Why? She needed to keep listening to the voice in the dream. Why would it tell her to wake up?

Someone was shaking her shoulders, slowly bringing her back to consciousness. No, she didn't want that. She fought against it, struggling to maintain sleep, until someone suddenly slapped her.

Valerie sprang into a sitting position, wide awake, and her eyes slowly took in Phantom, with his hands on her shoulders, and her school, in ruins.


	10. Chapter 10: Attack

**Guys…**

**Holy flip.**

**I'm not even gonna say anything, I'm just gonna hand you the facts and let you piece it together.**

**Butch Hartman tweeted in response to this guy, who asked:**

** realhartman Is there any chance of Danny Phantom coming back? I am a huge fan and I know I speak for a lot of people! That show was epic!**

**BH said:**

**Funny you should ask that... :)**

**That same day, he asked his fans:**

**QUESTION: If I were to make a live action #DANNYPHANTOM movie, who would you want to be the villain?**

**Then, more recently, he tweeted:**

**#DannyPhantom PHANS! #TUFFPUPPY ratings translate to #nickelodeon making new eps of ALL my shows! Supporting one show supports all of them!**

**When asked about this by another phan…**

** realhartman are you saying dp can make a return?! **

**He said…**

**anything is possible! **

**Guys…**

**Danny Phantom is totally coming back. Because of the awesome news at the top of this story, I'm gonna save the bad news and the review responses for the bottom.**

**It's just so… Wow. I nearly hyperventilated after reading this.**

Chapter 10:Attack

Right. Wait for something big to happen. Great plan, Jazz.

Danny rushed through the hallways of Casper High, pushing against the screaming crowd running from the sounds of explosions. Classmates gave him odd looks, wondering why he was running _towards _the disaster, but he just cursed himself, absolutely sure there was some detail he'd missed in the last 24 hours that would help him fight this ghost. More specifically, a detail from this morning. There was something missing, he was positive.

He ran the day's events through his head again. _He'd woken up beside Danielle, who was still sleeping peacefully, when Jazz had come and practically banged the door down with her incessant knocking. Danny had gotten up reluctantly, grabbed breakfast and his unfinished homework, avoided the Booomerang, and left to walk with Sam and Tucker down surprisingly empty streets. _Was that the thing? Empty streets? No, normally, ghost attacks filled the streets, not emptied them, however irrational. _On the walk, he'd been trying to finish his homework, following directly behind Sam to use her back as a tabletop. His two friends, were on edge, and had been pointing out anything that moved, in case it was that halfa. Luckily, they had very little chance to freak out, and they made it to school without incident. Before class, Dash had handed him his daily locker smash, Paulina her ghost boy gush, and Lancer his disapproving glare. Nothing ghostly at all. Same thing applied to his English class. It was completely normal, being the usual lecture from Lancer, the regular "Do you think homework is a joke, Mr. Fenton?" and the expected "Man, I wish we could get out of this class" from Tucker. All of a sudden, loud bangs were rattling the desks, and people in the hall were screaming about ghosts. Taking the easy way out, the class had run into the halls to follow the screamers. Danny was trying to find a place to go ghost, but the crowds had been rough and unavoidable. Now, here he was._

He shook his head, and tried to dash for the janitor's closet. No luck. What had he missed? What was that little thing that should have triggered his suspicion?

Wait. What was it that Tucker had said in class?

"I wish we could get out of this class."

Wish.

Desiree.

Crap. With new rage, Danny forced himself into a boy's bathroom and transformed. Invisibly, he floated back into the hallway and continued making his way to the scene, phasing through the crowd this time. Soon, the group faded, and Danny became tangible and visible. He could her steadily blasting a wall, and her evil laugh, high up and in the distance, almost unrecognizable. He closed his eyes and focused on pinpointing her position. It was right… about… THERE!

Without missing a beat, Danny whirled to face the hole in the wall, and just completely Wailed her out, giving her a heck of a surprise, he was sure. When he heard feminine screams descending to the school yard, he flew out and called his friend's names. He really needed to carry a Fenton Thermos more often.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny cried, his echoing voice spreading across the block. Then Valerie popped into his head, and he realized that she probably had some kind of ghost catching tech, "Valerie!"

As he called, he heard Desiree groan and rise, "Augh, why do children have to be so _stupid!_"

Danny laughed at her frustration, but his happiness was short lived when he spotted the dark-skinned girl lying among the rubble, blood appearing from a cut on her cheek. In seconds, he was there, checking for a pulse and making sure she was breathing.

"Val! Wake up! C'mon, I need your help! Val!" Danny cried. Confusion seemed to cross her face, and he held onto that like a lifeline, gripping her shoulders and shaking her like a rag doll. Annoyance flitted across her features. Danny sighed, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere, and, knowing how much crap she was going to give him for it, slapped Valerie across the face.

Instantly, she sat up and took in the destruction, her jaw slowly dropping more and more as the chaos became worse. It really was bad. An entire corner of the building had just kind of… slid off, and practically all the windows were either cracked or smashed open. The whole place was smoking, and the wall of one hallway had been torn away to reveal a row of lockers. Burned across these was the single word "HALFA", and unfortunately, Danny noticed both him and Valerie had suffered from the vandalism. Oh well. Not the most important thing right now.

Valerie began to stutter, "W-what's going on?"

Danny offered her a hand up, and she took it, "I'm not really sure. But the gist of it is that Tucker wished for a way out of class, and voila! Desiree handed it to him. I managed to give her a Ghostly Wail before things got worse, but she's already warming up, and I haven't got a thermos. I would really, _really_ would like your help with this. So, you want to come kick ghost butt? That's, um, not mine?"

Valerie watched Desiree rise higher and aim at the school, "You kidding? I'm already there!"

With a kick, her upgraded suit appeared over her clothes and her board folded out underneath her feet, and she flew up to meet the ghost. Danny smiled at her confidence and joined her.

"Hey jerk-face!" Valerie called, pulling out an ecto-bazooka, "You ready to get your ectoplasm smeared into the ground?"

"You?" Desiree appeared surprised and laughed, "Child, you couldn't touch me in half my life. And my life is infinite."

"That's pretty big talk from someone who's dead!" Valerie insulted, firing three shots.

Desiree swerved, only to be blasted in the back by a green ecto-ray, "Even bigger talk coming from the green fairy that grants magical wishes!" Danny flew circles around her occasionally tossing in a shot.

"I. AM. NOT. A. FAIRY!" Desiree shrieked, blasting Danny away. He recovered in time to float beside Valerie.

He gave her a look, "Remember that time when Ember was attacking, and you went after me instead?"

Valerie smirked, "To the hour of incidence."

"Then let's do it!" Danny dove down to circle underneath Desiree, and Valerie zipped overtop. Together, they orbited Desiree, changing their angles constantly. The ghost couldn't track either of them well enough to fire a shot, and was caught completely unaware when an ecto-gun shot hit her side, and as she whirled to face the same direction, an ecto-blast hit her arm. Soon, shots were flying at the wishing ghost from all directions, and with a call of "Faster!" both ghosthunters sped up, flying like they'd gulped down six cups of coffee before the fight. It wasn't long before Desiree simply passed out from exhaustion and fell to the ground. With a high five, the two ended their dramatic display and floated down to Desiree, where Valerie cuffed her.

"Whoah, guys, that was like, the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Danielle crowed, floating in to land beside them.

"Ya think so, huh?" Danny ruffled her white hair, "You've probably done some pretty cool things yourself, while you were on the road."

"Nuh-uh. Nothing as totally butt-kicking awesome as that!" Dani ran up and gave him a hug.

He seemed surprised for a second, then welcomed it, "Well, what do you expect from the two greatest ghostnuters this town has ever seen? It's goot to be… what did say? Butt-kicking awesome!"

The girls chuckled, but Valerie was suddenly reminded of who she was with, and her laughter faded. Danny noticed this, and took it as a chance to become serious.

"What knocked you out back there?" he questioned, referring to how he'd found her.

She looked thoughtful for a second, and then answered, "I think I'd gotten to her early, and she'd taken me down with a power surge. I was in some kind of weird state where I could hear everything and it translated into my dreams. I heard you Wail, and I heard her screaming as she went down. It was strange, though. She called herself 'Captrix'."

Danny nodded, "Yeah, well, I'm not the first to meet her. She's an ancient ghost, probably has a whole wackload of names from different places. That certainly could have been one of them."

"I don't know," Valerie shifted uncomfortably, "I was wondering… do all halfas have to start out human?"

"Well I didn't," Danielle pulled away from her look-alike, "I started out as a halfa , right from the get-go."

Valerie shook her head and waved her hands like she was clearing the slate, "No no no, I mean, what if they started out as a ghost, and became half human?"

Danny appeared thoughtful, "Y'know, I never really thought of that. But half dying is easy, whereas coming back to life, even halfway, is impossible."

She punched him in the shoulder, "Technically, you're impossible."

Danny laughed, "I guess that means anything is possible."

Over by the school, Sam suddenly barrelled out of the school, thermos held aloft, "DANNY! YOU'RE GONNA NEED a thermos…" she stopped short when she saw the trio. They couldn't hear her yet, and just went on grinning and laughing like an age-old family. Like darn, flipping family. Danny. In a family. All of a sudden, Sam had her whole world turned upside down.

Suddenly, Sam hated Valerie with a passion.

DP

**Aw! Sam's jealous!**

**Ok, like I promised, bad news first.**

**Apparently, and this may only affect U.S. internet goers, SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is back, and if it gets passed, there may be some big, bad changes to how we use the internet. And Fanfiction? That will probably be one of the things that changes the most. So yeah, if you hate it, let people know.**

**Second, review responses.**

**Inviso-Al: She explained it pretty well. As for what happens next, I'm thinking no school for a while, and for some more exploration of ghost-first-halfas.**

**kingpariah: Great guesses, all of them, but according to the story, it doesn't look like it. Sorry.**

**~Rainosa**


	11. Chapter 11:Protect

**Crap! I'm so late! Okay, but in my defense, I did say I would slow down because of school (didn't I?) and I've been super busy… mostly watching new shows. Have you seen that new Tron one? Well, its not exactly new, but it's great. You should check it out.**

**Inviso-Al: For next chapter? Oh, umm….. I'm not entirely sure. Probably another fight scene. Valerie is getting close, but still having troubles. And WOAH! I hope you don't have a heart attack! I'm thinking it'll be about his kids.**

**Guest: Between Danny and Val, no. I like Danny and Sam together, and Valerie will probably never be able to get past differences enough to actually be with him. I'm sorry if it seems that way. I'm basing their relationship on a Mumford and Sons line. "Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all, but lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall. Lend me your eyes, I can change what you see, but your soul you must keep totally free."**

**~Rainosa**

Chapter 11: Protect

"Darn it, Valerie. Now you got me thinking."

"What was that?" Jazz looked up from her book to give Danny a questioning expression.

"Sorry, was I thinking aloud?" Danny apologized.

"No, it's okay. What were you thinking about?" Jazz promised, bookmarking her page, which was a huge indicator that she was prepared for a long-winded explanation.

Danny sighed, "Well, it's just, Valerie asked me something, and now I can't stop thinking about it."

Jazz nodded, "What'd she ask?"

"She was wondering if halfas could start out ghost instead of human," Danny began, "It kind of made me look over all the ghosts I know differently, like, what if they were like me? Would they be a different kind of halfa, relearn how to be human instead of learning to be ghost? Or would they just kind of hate their human half after they learned what humans do to ghosts? I mean, even starting out human, I'm starting to really not like them. It's just, they hate ghosts so much! Sometimes, for no reason! And ghosts, they just hate them right back. Y'know what, I don't really like either of them. They're both so unreasonable, and angry at each other, and I feel like a one-person Romeo and Juliet, being both. It feels like… it feels like a war, and I don't know which side I'm fighting for. I fight ghosts to protect humans, but more and more often, I have to fight humans to protect ghosts, and I just… I don't _know_ anymore. I' not sure I'm doing the right thing, but I can't just stop doing whatever I'm doing, because whoever's the real bad guy will start winning and making the worlds suck, and to me, that would be like watching the end of the world, twice. It's… Jazz, it's so messed up, and I need tto know what I'm doing."

Seeing her brother in so much confusion, Jazz wrapped her arms around him, hoping to comfort him, "Look, I'm as confused as you are, but I know one thing for sure. We're not all bad. Humans and ghosts, there's good ones and bad ones. It's just, the bad ones like attacking you because you're good, and so you usually only see them. But look around you! You've got us, and those ghosts that help you out! We're the good ones, and we will always be around to support you, even when stuff is messed up."

Danny hugged her back, "Thanks Jazz, that… that means a lot."

With one final squeeze, she let go of the embrace, "So, why was Valerie thinking about ghost-first halfas anyways?"

"Well, you heard about the attack, right?" Danny guessed.

Jazz folded her arms, "You do know I was there, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, it was Desiree, and Valerie was knocked unconscious into a dream where she heard everything and she worked it into her nightmare thing. She heard Desiree use a different name, so she figured Desiree was the new halfa, even though that's totally messed up."

"Hmm. That's actually not a bad theory," Jazz realized.

"Yeah, that's why I was thinking about it. We have nothing to say its wrong, but nothing to say its right, either. With me, nothing to disprove it, but I'm living proof that halfas can exist. Or, uh, half living proof, "Danny concluded.

"Ha ha, Danny," she laughed sarcastically, "But what was the new name Valerie heard? I could look it up."

"I don't know, it was Capture something… us, Captro? No, it was Captrix! Yeah, that's it!" Danny remembered.

Jazz leaned back, "Doesn't ring any bells, but the Internet is sure to have answers. Wanna help-"

She didn't get a chance to finish, as a blue mist escaped Danny's mouth.

"Darn. I've gotta take this. Can you do it by yourself?" Danny got up.

"Of course," she smiled at him, and he moved on to the front door, slamming it closed and dashing into a back alley.

Sighing, Jazz picked up her book and set it back on the shelf. Sometimes, she really worried for her brother, both mentally and physically. But mostly mentally. He could defend himself physically just fine.

A scream from the basement stopped her in her tracks. It sounded like her mom's voice, and as such, didn't sound scared in the slightest. In truth, it seemed more like a "Get back, ectoplasmic scum, or I will tear you apart molecule by molecule!" scream. Jazz rushed down stairs, knowing how incompetent her parents really could be at ghostfighting, but when she got down, she realized they were in a little over their heads. Then again, anything above Klemper was over their heads.

Darn it. Danny had gone the wrong way.

**I actually added this weird car crash scene, but I'll save it for next chapter. Sorry for the short chapter, like I said, I'm busy. Things may slow more.**

**~Rainosa**


	12. AN Chapter SORRY!

**I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS! I'm like almost a week late, and now I'm not even giving you a real chapter! That's right, this is all A/N. And while I really hate when authors do this, I'm forced to give you this scrap right now. I regret to inform you that my updates will stop being those lovely weekly things you got every Monday, and will become random, schedule dependent updates. Please don't kill me. I will respond to the reviews I got, though.**

**I'mafruitlooptoo: To be honest, any response is the response I wanted. And Mumford and Sons has been a big part of my family and life for a long time. Moreso Coldplay, but still.**

**Inviso-Al: Great! It's not really Klemper they're fighting, and like I mentioned, I have this weird car crash scene that came from nowhere planned.**

**SibunaLover123: Yeah, and now I'm leaving it even more. Sorry. Yes, I am for real, although I'm not really sure what you meant by that. I will update eventually, and I'm slowly getting around to my climax.**

**Again, I'm really sorry for handing you this A/N chapter. Hang in there, school's just handing out unbelievable amounts of homework. You only have to wait a while longer.**

**~Rainosa**


	13. Chapter 12: Savior

**Check it out! I'm back! I actually made it! Somehow, this story didn't turn out to be another failure. I hope my cliffhanger on this one doesn't leave you hanging for as long as this one.**

**Disclaimer: This is never gonna happen in this story again, but hey, I don't own Danny Phantom**

**~Rainosa**

Chapter 12: Savior

After running into an alleyway, Danny hurriedly transformed, calling his mantra "Going ghost!" as the rings travelled across him. Without a second thought, he dashed into the street, not expecting any traffic, and suddenly, headlights were blinding him and a horn was blaring in his ears. For a split second, he couldn't think, couldn't understand what was going on, couldn't react, but the instant was short, and he instinctively went intangible. He heard a scream, and a screech of brakes, followed by a loud crash behind him. Whirling, his eyes fell upon the wrecked remains of the car he'd just gone through, the front demolished against a lamppost. Childish wails echoed from the wreck, and suddenly, Danny knew where he had to be. He flew over to the car and pulled on the door, despite it being locked. The cries got more frantic, but nothing had come from the driver yet, and Danny became worried. He _had_ to get in. With a final burst of energy, he tore the door off its hinges, breaking the lock, to reveal a young girl in a car seat. The mother lay unconscious in the front seat, blood trickling down the side of her head and a smoldering cigarette hanging out of her hand onto a suspiciously dry pile of papers. Before Danny could do a thing, the papers went up in flames, and the dry atmosphere quickly allowed the fire to spread to the fabric seat.

"Mommy!" the little girl cried, reaching for her mother desperately.

"Shh, it's okay, let me help," Danny tried calming her down, leaning in to unbuckle her car seat. Gently, he pulled her out, rubbing circles on her back to soothe her, and saving her from the wreckage. A crowd had started to form around the scene, and he hurriedly brought the girl to a responsible looking couple.

"Watch her for me!" Danny called before flying as fast as he could towards the flaming car. The heat could be felt from a distance, and Danny only survived as the fire engulfed him because of his ice core. Calling on his intangibility, he forced his essence into the vehicle to locate the mother, and within seconds, he had wrapped his arms around her to pull her free. His escape, however, was stopped short when he saw that her leg was trapped beneath the dashboard, and for fear of hurting her further, he let go. She cried out in pain, and he realized that he'd shifted her hand, which was in flames on the paper. Thoughts didn't even enter his head as he blew the flames out with a single, ice-powered gust. Tension disappeared from her face, but not enough. Hoping upon hope the she wouldn't get burnt worse, danny grabbed her shoulders, turned her intangible, and yanked her out of the wreckage.

He'd only managed to get her ten feet away before the vehicle exploded.

Debris flew everywhere, and Danny was only just able to put up an ecto-shield in time to stop it from hitting them. The crowd backed away, stepping just out of range, and Danny used the newly cleared space to lay down the woman he was carrying. Using his limited medical knowledge, he iced up one of his hands and took her burned and mangled one, trying to relieve pain. With his other appendages, he arranged and aimed an overly square cast made of ecto-shields, assembling it around the leg that had been trapped. One stray hand made its way to his white belt, and without a second thought, he tore it from his waist and wrapped it tightly around her head, specifically covering her injury. In the audience, the girl he'd rescued broke free from the arms of her newly appointed babysitters and toddled through the debris to her mother. Sirens blared in the distance as she took the uninjured hand and hugged it in her small arms.

"Is Mommy gonna be okay?" she asked in a high worried voice. The crowd behind her started to get louder, but not much louder than the ambulance, which sounded like it was only about four blocks away, now.

Danny sighed, "I'm not sure. I'm not really good at this."

The girl looked him in the eyes, "But is she going to be okay?"

Danny was struck with the realization that she was actually asking if her mother would live. This little child thought that her mother was going to die. Reassuringly, however, he saw that her fear was unwarranted.

"Yeah. She's going to be fine."

Suddenly, paramedics were flooding the scene, intermingled with cops, and the woman was taken from Danny's care and placed on a stretcher. Members of the crowd began providing witnesses, but the cops seemed to give Danny a wide berth, reluctant to speak to a ghost. With a sigh, he was forced to pick on a brave-looking officer and recount his story, when a firm hand grabbed his shoulder and drew his attention.

"Hey kid. Were you the one that bandaged her up?" A tall paramedic asked.

Danny nodded, "Yeah , but it probably wasn't very good. I'm no doctor."

The man shook his head, "No way, kid. I've seen real paramedics do poorer jobs than you. Where'd you learn to treat someone like that?"

"I don't know," Danny shrugged, "I guess from experience. I get hurt a lot."

"Mangled hand hurt?" the paramedic questioned.

"Try five broken bones hurt," Danny confirmed.

"Wow," he gasped.

"Wow, yourself."

DP

"Tell me, Fentons, what are you going to do to top a powerful ghost like me?" Vlad challenged, folding his arms.

"Everything we can, ectoplasmic scum! You don't scare us!" Maddie roared, charging up an ecto-bazooka.

Jazz rushed down the rest of the stairs and snatched a wrist ray before Vlad could make a move, "Just float back into the Ghost Portal, Plasmius, and no one gets hurt."

"No one gets hurt! But dear Jasmine, that's the reason I'm here! To hurt people!" Vlad taunted, purposely floating towards her and away from the portal.

Determinedly, Jazz pulled out her cell phone and dialed Danny's number.

"Ah, calling in the big guns, are we?" Vlad laughed.

"No. I'm calling Danny," Jazz firmly informed him.

"Danny? Jazz, are you insane? Danny's terrified of ghosts! He'll run the minute he comes in!" Jack cried.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway! He's not picking up," Jazz put her phone in her pocket.

"Well then, as you young folks say, let's get this party started, shall we?" Vlad clapped his hands together and disappeared. Suddenly, jack was tossed into the air like a rag doll, and Maddie reflexively fired at the spot where the blow had come from. A mocking "Missed me!" emanated from that corner, but Jazz aimed her wrist ray at the voice and shot him.

"Didn't miss you that time," she quipped.

Vlad reappeared with a burn mark on his shoulder, "Insolent child! I ought to RIP your HEAD off!"

"And I oughtta tear you to pieces for knocking me over!" Jack stood up and fired the Jack O'Nine Tails, but Vlad nimbly dodged. Of course, this left him open for an attack from Maddie, and she promptly took it, throwing the Booomerang straight into the back of his skull. Vlad whirled to confront her, only to be thwarted when Jazz fired right into his face.

"Enough!" Vlad put up an ecto-shield all around himself, "I will not be defeated by three pesky humans!"

"Jazz saw what was happening; she'd seen it before when he'd fought Danny. At first, it would seem like Danny was winning, landing every blow, finishing every joke. Then Vlad would become enraged at his own poor fighting, and suddenly, Danny didn't seem on top any more. At the last second, someone would step in and help Danny, and Vlad would be forced into defeat.

Of course, this time, it would be a little reversed.

Whipping out her phone a second time, Jazz typed out a text faster than if she'd just found out she was dating Josh Hutcherson, and sent this to Danny right before a razor-sharp ecto-shield sliced through the space where her head had been.

_BSMNT! NOW!_

DP

_BSMNT! NOW!_ The text read.

Danny checked the I.D. again. It was Jazz. What could be going on at home that was more important than-

Oh. Right. Ghosts.

Danny rubbed his temples. Man, his life was getting messed up. Ghosts and car crashes and portals and halfas and stupid secret I.D.s, he bet no other normal kids had to deal with this. With a sigh, he took off.

"Sorry, Toby, I got some ghost business to attend to," he dismissed, turning invisible.

"Anytime, Danny," the paramedic waved.

Little did they know, Valerie was sitting on a rooftop nearby, watching the whole thing.

**Ta da! Did you like my little references there, with Josh Hutcherson and The Listener? Tell me in a review! (Seriously, I'm now desperate for them)**

**~Rainosa**


	14. Chapter 13: Hurt

**Aaaaand we're back! Albeit, a little late. But hey, what's one day compared to the wait I gave you last chapter? *crickets* No? Not ready for jokes yet? I understand.**

**GravityPhantomGirl12: Thanks, like, a lot. As for fluff, I have stated that this isn't DxV, but I'm willing to stick a bit of Sam romance in there.**

**JamieLynnPhantom: Have you ever seen someone just handing out spare change because they just feel like it? Most people are just like "Oh, that's cool, but I don't feel like pulling out my wallet/ typing a review." I appreciate that you think my story is worth it though.**

**Rosezelene Ersa: Yeah, you get to see more of her thoughts on that here.**

**I'mafruitlooptoo: PLEASE! MORE REVIEWS! I literally come on here every day, and I'm like, "Did anybody review me?!" and nobody has done anything, and I sulk through the rest of my browsing.**

**Inviso-Al: As always, thank you, Inviso-Al.**

**Guest: Well, thanks for being so direct. She's not in this one, but I think she'll be in the next one.**

**jim89: Great! I'll try not to screw it up.**

**Also, Thanks so much for 53 followers, guys! Man! For the longest time, I was stuck at 46, and then Chapter 12 went up, and it was like WHOOSH! Seven new people! So, yeah, thanks.**

**P.S. My other story is at 17 followers! YAYYY!**

**~Rainosa**

Chapter 13: Hurt

Valerie was on patrol when she heard the crash. At first, her brain had switched into its default mode, and she'd found herself saying "That darn Phantom…"

Then she'd stopped. Who was she to blame him for everything that happened in this town? Had he not proven he was more than some evil ghost bent on world domination? Didn't he deserve some credit?

Of course, she had to see him standing smack in the middle of it as she pulled up.

Valerie sighed. This boy had some serious issues. She couldn't go one night without coming across something that had to do with him and his ghost half. Always with the ghost half. She really needed to get a life.

She settled on a nearby rooftop and watched as he brought a young girl gently out of the wreckage she was sure he caused. A random couple received her, and he hurriedly dove back towards the car, which now seemed to be giving off some kind of light, something like ecto-energy. Of course Danny had forgotten a survivor. He was good, but not _that_ good. Suddenly, Valerie realized that the glowing light was flames, slowly working their way to the exterior. Oh crap. That was bad. If the fire reached the-

It was too late. She saw tongues of flame licking at the worrisome and dangerous part a second before the vehicle exploded into infinite waves of heat. There was no hope that the two inside could have survived.

"DANNY!" she cried. Gone? Just like that? It was- it just- it wasn't possible! She should've gone to help him, should've put out the fire, should've…

Valerie put her head in her hands. She should've accepted him. She should have listened to him and realized that he really was good. Heck, she should have done that before she found out about him. But now, he'd gone and died thinking that she'd hated him. Which, now that she thought about it, she didn't. She didn't hate him anymore. All those fights, and only now, when it didn't matter anymore, did she realize that they were really on the same side.

Descending into sobs, Valerie sat down and reached to cover her eyes, when suddenly, a flicker of green light caught in her peripheral vision, and she froze, not believing what she saw.

No. It couldn't be.

His ecto-shield.

Hope swelled within her. There was a chance! She could tell him how she felt! She knew how good he was, how heroic he'd been! She wanted to fly down right away, wanted to hug him and tell him everything was okay again and that he could trust her now.

Then she saw the woman in his hands, who she could tell needed medical attention even from here. It was the survivor he'd risked his life to save. Now was her chance to step in and help Danny in a subject that he clearly knew nothing about. Again, however, Valerie was stopped as he skillfully bandaged her with his almost non-existent resources. Where did he learn to clean someone up like that?

Valerie's face paled as she realized yet another thing that night. He learned it from doing it to himself. To be that good, she noted, sickened, he had to have had a lot of practice for a really long time. That meant years of setting broken bones, icing burns, relocating joints, dressing cuts and settling concussions. It also meant years of excruciating pain. To practice it all on himself… No, that made it sound like he had a choice. Danny had been forced to take care of his injuries until he could almost wrap bandages in his sleep. It was amazing that he hadn't just given up being hero because of all he was forced to endure.

Valerie slowly started to retreat within herself as she ran through all the horrors Danny must have gone through. Down below, paramedics were taking over the medical procedure, and she watched as one spoke directly to Danny. Although she couldn't hear what they were saying, she could easily tell that the medic was complementing him. She could imagine their conversation now.

"That was some great treatment back there!" the paramedic would say.

"Oh, it's nothing," Danny would wav it off, "What's another burnt hand next to the thousands I've had?"

"What about the woman's crushed leg and bleeding head injury?" the paramedic would question, ignoring his obvious mention of pain like all citizens of Amity Park.

Danny would shrug, "I have bleeding head injuries every other day, and my leg has been crushed maybe ten or twenty times."

"That give you some good practice, then," the medic wouldn't even care about the tortue that would be.

"Sure," Danny would agree, hardly the antagonist.

What was even worse was that she knew she had caused some, if not most of those injuries. How many times had she hit him with a shot from her gun? When was the last time she'd electrocuted him? There was one time she remembered, a moment she used to be proud of. She'd broken his wrist, and he'd only barely escaped. Now, of course, she realized Fenton had been favoring his arm for a few weeks after the attack. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she see the signs? Why didn't this stupid town see the signs? Were they all just that stupid? She hoped not.

At street level, Danny's phone blipped, and he excused himself to give the illusion of flying far away, when really, she saw him loop and pass intangibly into his house. Where was he going in such a hurry? Well, hey, at least now she could speak to him privately. Valerie kicked out her board and flew through a first floor window to see Danny bolting back up the stairs.

"I told you, Jazz!" came Jack's voice from the basement.

Danny looked up and saw her, "Val! What are you doing here?!"

She folded up her hoverboard, "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?" he asked, "Vlad's downstairs trying to kill my family."

"What?! That no-good, lying scumbag! You just found yourself a heck of a helping hand," Valerie punched her own palm to demonstrate her anger.

Danny smiled and transformed, "I'd be glad to accept it."

Together, they flew into the basement.

"Told you!" Jazz pumped her fist as the two entered dramatically.

"What?" Jack appeared confused.

Jazz realized her istake, "I mean, darn Dad, you're right again."

"Are you finished arguing amongst yourselves?" Vlad continuously fired at the Fenton's hiding places.

"I'm not!" Valerie called, shooting an ecto-taser line straight into the back of his head.

"More children? Why do you always have… to…" his rant died in his throat as he turned and saw Danny floating there.

"Have to what, Plasmius? Have to beat you?" Danny joked, releasing an ecto-blast in Vlad's general direction.

As though realizing a happy coincidence, Vlad began to laugh maniacally. This caused his entire opposition to fly into a rage and fire as many shots as they could, but he was too adept at avoiding them for the energy to do much damage. Vlad continued cackling like he was the mayor of Crazy Town and not Amity Park, and although there wasn't much difference, Maddie finally became exasperated.

"What's so funny, ghost?" she cried hatefully.

Vlad wiped away a mirthful tear, "Well, here I come to kid nap a certain ghost boy, but when I float in, I see the three of you, and I think to myself, 'Now I have to fight these bothersome idiots, but then you just call him up for me, and BAM! Phantom swoops in like he thinks he can beat me! You children are just too comical!"

Valerie clenched her fists, "In case you haven't noticed, he's got the best help this town has to offer!"

"Help?" Danny's parents crowed in unison.

"Of course not!" Maddie proclaimed. Jack dropped his weapons, "You want him, ghost? You can have him!"

"Hey!" Danny objected.

"Dad!" Jazz complained.

Maddie shrugged, "It's ghost business, Jazz. As long as they're not attacking people, we stay out of the way."

"You can't be serious!" Valerie cried, pulling out a set of dual blasters.

"We're all serious, Miss Huntress," Vlad promised. He took out a sleek device and fired a net at Danny, who was turned to his parents.

"No!" Valerie shouted, and tried to knock the net out of the way, Unfortunately, it had too much momentum, and the snare entangled them both.

Danny's parents stared at her in awe, "Huntress? Helping ghosts? How could you?"

Valerie glared as Vlad dragged the two into the portal, "No, Mrs. Fenton."

"How could you?"


End file.
